step

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See also step-, and stęp

Contents

English[edit]

Wikipedia has articles on:

Wikipedia

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English steppen, from Old English steppan (“to step, go, proceed, advance”), from Proto-Germanic *stapjanan (“to step”), from Proto-Indo-European *stÁb-, *stÁbʰ-, *stemb-, *stembʰ- (“to support, stomp, curse, be amazed”). Cognate with West Frisian stappe (“to step”), North Frisian stape (“to walk, trudge”), Dutch stappen (“to step, walk”), German stapfen (“to trudge, stomp, plod”). Related to stamp, stomp.

Verb[edit]

step (third-person singular simple present steps, present participle stepping, simple past stepped, stept (dated), or stope (obsolete), past participle stepped, stept (dated), or stopen (obsolete))

  1. (intransitive) To move the foot in walking; to advance or recede by raising and moving one of the feet to another resting place, or by moving both feet in succession.
  2. (intransitive) To walk; to go on foot; especially, to walk a little distance.
    • 2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly): 
      A “moving platform” scheme […] is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays.
    to step to one of the neighbors
  3. (intransitive) To walk slowly, gravely, or resolutely.
    • Home the swain retreats, His flock before him stepping to the fold. — James Thomson
  4. (intransitive, figuratively) To move mentally; to go in imagination.
    • They are stepping almost three thousand years back into the remotest antiquity. — Alexander Pope
  5. (transitive) To set, as the foot.
  6. (transitive, nautical) To fix the foot of (a mast) in its step; to erect.
    • 1898, Joseph Conrad, Youth
      We put everything straight, stepped the long-boat's mast for our skipper, who was in charge of her, and I was not sorry to sit down for a moment.
Derived terms[edit]
terms derived from the verb step
  • step out
    • (military) To increase the length, but not the rapidity, of the step, extending it to thirty-tree inches
    • To go out for a short distance or a short time
  • step short (military) (to diminish the length or rapidity of the step according to the established rules)
  • step off (to measure by steps, or paces; hence, to divide, as a space, or to form a series of marks, by successive measurements, as with dividers)
  • step up
Translations[edit]
intransitive: to move the foot in walking
intransitive: to go on foot; especially, to walk a little distance
intransitive: to walk slowly, gravely, or resolutely
intransitive, figuratively: to move mentally
transitive: to set, as the foot
transitive, nautical: to erect
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2[edit]

Old English stepe

Noun[edit]

step (plural steps)

  1. An advance or movement made from one foot to the other; a pace.
  2. A rest, or one of a set of rests, for the foot in ascending or descending, as a stair, or a rung of a ladder.
    The breadth of every single step or stair should be never less than one foot. - Sir Henry Wotton
  3. A running board where passengers step to get on and off the bus.
    The driver must have a clear view of the step in order to prevent accidents.
  4. The space passed over by one movement of the foot in walking or running. Used also figuratively of any kind of progress.
    One step is generally about three feet, but may be more or less.
    He improved step by step, or by steps.
    To derive two or three general principles of motion from phenomena, and afterwards to tell us how the properties and actions of all corporeal things follow from those manifest principles, would be a very great step in philosophy. - Isaac Newton
  5. A small space or distance.
    It is but a step.
  6. A print of the foot; a footstep; a footprint; track.
  7. A gait; manner of walking.
    The approach of a man is often known by his step.
  8. Proceeding; measure; action; act.
    The reputation of a man depends on the first steps he makes in the world. - Alexander Pope
    Beware of desperate steps. The darkest day, Live till to-morrow, will have passed away. - William Cowper
    I have lately taken steps . . . to relieve the old gentleman's distresses. - G. W. Cable
  9. (plural) A walk; passage.
    Conduct my steps to find the fatal tree. - John Dryden
  10. (plural): A portable framework of stairs, much used indoors in reaching to a high position.
  11. (nautical) A framing in wood or iron which is intended to receive an upright shaft; specif., a block of wood, or a solid platform upon the keelson, supporting the heel of the mast.
  12. (machines) One of a series of offsets, or parts, resembling the steps of stairs, as one of the series of parts of a cone pulley on which the belt runs
  13. (machines) A bearing in which the lower extremity of a spindle or a vertical shaft revolves.
  14. (music) The interval between two contiguous degrees of the scale.
    Usage note: The word tone is often used as the name of this interval; but there is evident incongruity in using tone for indicating the interval between tones. As the word scale is derived from the Italian scala, a ladder, the intervals may well be called steps.
  15. (kinematics) A change of position effected by a motion of translation. - William Kingdon Clifford
Derived terms[edit]
Terms derived from the noun "step"
Synonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
pace
one of a set of rests in a stair or ladder
running board
space passed over by one movement of the foot in walking or running
small space or distance
footstep
manner of walking
proceeding; measure; action; act
plural: walk; passage
plural: portable framework of stairs
nautical: framing in wood or iron which is intended to receive an upright shaft
machinery: one of a series of offsets, resembling the steps of stairs
machinery: bearing in which the lower extremity of a spindle or a vertical shaft revolves
music: interval between two contiguous degrees of the scale
kinematics: change of position effected by a motion of translation
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

See also[edit]

Statistics[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Czech[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Noun[edit]

step f

  1. steppe
Declension[edit]
    declension of step
singular plural
nominative step stepi
genitive stepi stepí
dative stepi stepem
accusative step stepi
vocative stepi stepi
locative stepi stepech
instrumental stepí stepmi

Etymology 2[edit]

Noun[edit]

step m inanimate

  1. tap dance
Declension[edit]
    declension of step
singular plural
nominative step stepy
genitive stepu stepů
dative stepu stepům
accusative step stepy
vocative stepe stepy
locative stepu stepech
instrumental stepem stepy

Polish[edit]

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

Wikipedia pl

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

step m

  1. steppe

Declension[edit]

    declension of step
singular plural
nominative step stepy
genitive stepu stepów
dative stepowi stepom
accusative step stepy
instrumental stepem stepami
locative stepie stepach
vocative stepie stepy
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